Gold & Co vs the world
by sjshark23
Summary: Basically, this is a Pokemon version of SE Hinton's "The Outsiders". To really get into the story, I suggest reading the novel or watching the movie, they're both really good.
1. Gold Gets Jumped

Gold walked home from Violet City Regional High School in a great mood. He had just received the news that he would be representing the school at the Prime Cup Tournament at Indigo Plateau, and he was psyched.

He looked like any other high school senior, with black hair and blue-gray eyes. A small sliver of his hair was poking through his black baseball cap, which he always had turned backward. He wore yellow shorts and a red hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off halfway up. Six Poke Balls were set in his belt, each with a different symbol indicating the Pokemon they contained. His Typhlosion, Flare, was in the first slot, his Poke Ball bearing a flame. The other symbols were a slash mark, a rock, a feather, a curved claw, and a bug antenna. On his wrist he had his PokeGear, which he had modified to include the Pokedex software. He had a gold chain, a gift from his neighbor Crystal, around his neck, and he kept his pocket knife attached to his belt.

As he walked home, he noticed a rustling in the bushes, and he quickly stopped and looked around. Seeing nothing, he continued home, and then five teenage boys leaped from the bushes and started towards him. Gold stood staring at them, only recognizing the leader: Butch, a tall, lanky character with green hair and a permanent sneer. His most telling feature, though, was his nose, which had been broken three times. As Gold's hand moved to his belt, he was slammed to the ground by two of the boys.

"Well, Gold, aren't we brave?" sneered Butch, as the two boys pressed Gold's shoulders into the ground. "I would have thought that you'd be too scared to walk home alone with us roaming the streets"

"Oh, no, I'm not brave, I'm just not afraid of you," snarled Gold, and received a punch in the jaw for his quip. "Why don't you pick on someone else for a change, huh? This is getting old." Another punch, this time in the stomach. As Gold coughed, another one of the boys pulled out a knife and held it to Gold's neck.

"Shut your mouth, kid, or my hand might slip," he threatened. Suddenly he looked up, and Gold kicked him in the gut. "Damn it!" the boy hissed, and moved the knife closer again, just as he was tackled by a different group of boys, who proceeded to attack Butch and his gang. Gold was able to look around, and saw that his friends had arrived and were sending the other boys scurrying away in a panic, screaming vengeance.

He looked up, and saw Red standing over him. Red was the oldest of the group of boys known as The Crew, and he looked at Gold with concern.

"What'd they do to you?" he asked worriedly as he noticed the mark where the knife blade had slightly cut Gold's skin.

"Oh, the usual," Gold said thickly, noticing the cut himself. Just as he spoke, Green walked up.

"They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?" he asked, looking at Gold with annoyance. Green always told Gold not to walk home by himself, but Gold never listened.

"They pulled a knife on him," said Ruby, who was also looking at the cut on Gold's neck. "Didn't they, Gold? Did they pull a knife on you?"

"Yeah," Gold responded darkly, as he grabbed a tissue and cleared up the blood on his neck. "Butch and his cronies jumped me, and one of them had a pocket knife."

"Well, there you have it," said a small voice, and Gold noticed that Emerald had joined them. "If those jerks would just stay in their own neighborhood, things would be so much better."

"Don't worry about that, Emerald," growled Red, "because we're gonna have it out with those jerks and kick them out of our neighborhood for good. They can't keep coming over here and expect us to not fight back."

"Well, then, it'd better be soon," said a low voice, and Silver walked up. His long red hair was mussed up in places, and his sweatpants had been torn in several places.

"I see you're out of jail, Silver." Gold remarked. Silver was always being thrown in jail for something or other, ranging from robbing the Poke Mart to jumping small kids in the street.

"What's it to you? Actually, my real question is what are you doing walking alone on the road, Gold?" growled Silver. "Did you ever consider that the reason you get jumped all the time is because you make it easy for them?"

"None of your business, Silver," snapped Gold. Sometimes Silver could wear his patience very thin, and he was in the process of doing so now.

"It is my business, kid, because we're all friends around here, remember?" snarled Silver. "To make a long story short, you'll be dead if you keep letting Butch's gang knock you around. They came close today, and they won't hesitate next time."

"Stop arguing, you two," cried Emerald. "It's no wonder the girls think you two are wrecking the battle team, because all you do is argue."

"When did they tell you that, kid?" said Silver in shock. He was universally distrusted by all four girls in the Crew, because of his mile-long police record and his generally surly nature.

"A few weeks ago, Silver, and why do you care? You don't like any of them, anyway." Emerald, only fourteen, didn't either, but he knew more of the side stories regarding the rest of the Crew than they did. "Yellow noticed that you two argue more often than not, and said that it's not good for team chemistry."

Silver groaned. "Not Yellow's chemistry talk again, please, kid? I've heard it too many times already. She drives me nuts with it."

"I'm just saying..." said Emerald, but Gold cut him off.

"Arguing is a part of life, kid, and it brings us closer together, not farther apart. Let's get out of here," he added to the others, "this place is depressing."

"Fair enough," said Ruby, and they ran off towards New Bark.


	2. Meet the Crew part1

**Just to clear some things up, here are the matches in the novel for the characters introduced so far:**

**Red: Two-Bit**

**Green: Darry**

**Emerald: Johnny**

**Silver: Dally**

**Gold: Steve/Ponyboy**

**Ruby: Sodapop**

**They may not be exact matches, but as the story progresses their similarities will become more obvious**

The atmosphere at Gold's house was very subdued that evening. Gold lay half-asleep on the couch, while Red and Green arm-wrestled across the table. Periodically, one of their hands would slam against the table, jolting Gold awake again. Ruby sat shaking his head every time this happened, stitching his jacket sleeve back together for the umpteenth time.

"You know, you guys are keeping Gold awake," he remarked offhandedly, as he finished repairing the oft-torn jacket. Gold responded to this by throwing a pillow across the room at him, causing him to fall off his chair in surprise. Red and Gold burst out laughing, while Green scowled and Ruby picked himself up, red-faced and frowning, from the floor. "I'm just saying." he said quietly, as he looked out the window to hide his embarrassment.

"It's all right, Ruby," laughed Gold, as he jumped off the couch and ran over to the table. If there was one thing he liked more than anything, it was watching Red arm-wrestle Green every chance he got. It was a competition that might never end. "Who's winning?" he asked Green, who scowled.

"Ask this clown," he grunted, causing Red to laugh even harder. "He'll tell you the whole story."

"Don't be a sore loser, Green," Red managed to keep a straight face for this much, then he fell back into peals of raucous laughter, almost falling off his own chair. Green responded with another scowl, and held his hand out again for another round.

As Red seized Green's hand for the bout, there was a knock on the door. Gold went to answer it, but Ruby bolted past him and got there first. Gold hissed in annoyance, and was shocked when he saw who was there. It was Crystal, looking like she had just been dragged through the Ilex Forest headfirst, and wearing a scowl that almost matched Green's.

"Oh, hey, Crystal! What're you...? What the...?" Gold was flabbergasted by her being there in the first place, and even more so by her disheveled appearance. There were twigs in her hair, and her jacket was torn in several places. "What happened to you?" he said finally. "You look like a Spearow carried you through the trees."

"Very funny, Gold," she said under her breath. "I just got attacked by a bunch of Noctowl, and had to hide in the bushes until they left. That's what happened to me." She looked into the house. "Anyone here besides you and Ruby?"

"Yeah, Red and Green are inside." He cracked his familiar joker's grin. "Come on inside, those Noctowl might have tracked you here." She followed him into the room, where Green had just gotten up from his arm-wrestling marathon with Red. He wore an even deeper scowl, if that was possible, while Red sat back in his chair, arms overhead, his eyes half-closed. "Hey, guys, Crystal's here!" Gold yelled to the room at large. Not getting any response, he flicked open his knife and threw it at the target on the wall. It hit the center of the circle with a resounding thud, and everyone turned to look at him.

"What was that for?!" shouted Red from the table, his eyes wide and panicked. Then he noticed that Crystal was right next to Gold, and brightened. "Hey, Crystal, what's going on?"

"Not much, Red. How's Yellow?" Yellow was Red's girlfriend, and she had been sick for about a week. "Heard from her recently?"

"Nope," Red told her with a small frown. "She hasn't talked to anyone for a while, but I'm sure she's okay." He glanced up at Green, who had sat down again, and reached out his hand. Green seized it and yet another match began. "So how you been?" he grunted, as Green began to bend his hand back.

"Not bad," she said with a weak smile. "I just got chased by a flock of angry Noctowl halfway over from my house, and I had to sneak through the bushes to get away." She examined her appearance in the mirror, and scowled again. "I look like I just got dragged through a hedge backwards." she quipped unhappily.

"You don't look that bad," comforted Gold, patting her on the back. She responded by shoving him playfully onto the couch. "Better than usual, I'd say," he said, as Ruby let out a hearty guffaw.

"Oh, shut it, Gold," said Crystal, barely suppressing a grin. "By the way, I heard you guys are planning a fight against the Rockets, am I right?" The Rockets were a rival gang, of which Butch was a member, from the south side of town that was always competing with the Crew on the north side for territory.

"Yeah," said Ruby from the corner. "They've come over to our side of town too many times for us not to retaliate." He paused, appraising his stitching. "They scare Emerald and the other girls to death, and they don't make it easy on them."

"Well, why wouldn't Emerald be scared after what they did to him two months ago?" Crystal said as if nothing was more obvious, and she was right. Two months ago, Emerald had been attacked by the Rockets and left with two scars on his face. The experience had made him even jumpier than usual, and he had begun to follow Gold's example and carry a knife anytime he left home. He had been unable to identify his attacker, only stating that he was a lot bigger than he was.

"I swear, we'd better smash those Rockets and send 'em packing," called Red from the table, where he had just lost a match to Green. "They'll never stay on the south side if we don't."

"We will, man, don't worry about it," said Gold from the couch. "They can't stand up to two Crew sets at once."

"What are you talking about, 'two sets'? You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I mean that Pearl and his gang are gonna join us, and we'll beat those Rockets right back to the outskirts if need be." Pearl was the unofficial leader of another Crew set on the north side, and they hated the Rockets almost as much as Gold's set did.

"Well, if we're done talking about this fight, we can get on home," said Ruby finally, getting up from his chair. "We've got to start planning for the Prime Cup tournament, and decide which pairings we'll be using."

"Fine. I'll see you guys later." said Gold as the others got up to leave. He looked at Crystal, who smiled, and then dashed away to get some sleep.


	3. Meet the Crew part2

**Here's Chapter 3 of my Pokemon version of "The Outsiders", and here's hoping you'll enjoy it.**

The next morning, Gold, Red, Emerald and Silver stood in the street outside the school, waiting for the others to show up. Silver had lit a cigarette, and was blowing the smoke in Emerald's face, which drew annoyed looks from the girls nearby. Emerald showed no reaction, however, and Silver kept it up until Ruby and Green showed up.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" he said with a smirk as he threw the cigarette aside. He had his usual black shirt and violet sweatpants on, with his long hair sweeping behind him.

"Same as always, I guess," said Green as he looked around the group. He also wore a black shirt, but he wore jeans rather than sweatpants, and his hair was all over the place. "The girls get here yet?"

"They're inside, I think," supplied Red, who was also looking around. "Yellow called last night, and said she'd be back in school today, so I'm going to meet her later."

"And Crystal?" asked Gold in spite of himself. Sometimes he was so impetuous, he scared even himself. "She hardly said anything last night." Everyone stopped to look at him, and he stared back at them confusedly. "What?"

"Oh, I think you know 'what', Gold," said Ruby, looking meaningfully at Red.

"What's 'what'? I just said..."

"We know what you said, kid," said Silver disinterestedly. "Lay off him, will you, Ruby? He thinks of Crystal like you think of..." The bell rang just as he was about to finish his taunt, and they raced into the building.

'Physics is a drag', Gold thought as Professor Rowan continued the week-long lecture on electrostatics. Two rows behind him, Red stared aimlessly into space, while Green sat next to him, scowling every time the professor stopped to look at Red.

"Hey Gold, Crystal's looking at you," whispered Ruby from his left, and Gold turned to look to the right. Sure enough, there sat Crystal, looking intently at the cut-off sleeves on his sweatshirt. He had cut them off as soon as he got it, using his knife. She noticed him looking back at her, and turned back to her notebook, blushing furiously.

"_Someone_'s noticing your fashion sense, my friend, and it's not me this time," said Ruby, grinning broadly. "Those cut-off sleeves were a great idea."

"Shut it, will you?" hissed Gold, as Professor Rowan stopped to look at them.

"Ruby, Gold? Is there something you'd like to share with us?" The professor towered over everyone, even Green, and his bearded face showed a little annoyance at the interruption.

"Nope," said Ruby as Gold looked down embarrassedly, and the professor went back to his lecture.

"Nice going, smart-mouth, you almost got us in trouble," snarled Gold as they walked out of the room. Professor Rowan was not one to tolerate interruptions, and they had proven to be a big one. Ruby looked innocently at Gold as they walked down the hallway to the locker area, where they were met by Sapphire.

"Hey guys," she said as they approached. She had her usual bandanna on over her long brown hair, and wore a blue tank top and white shorts. "Your timing was really bad back there," she added to Gold as he opened his locker.

"How so?" he asked her as he threw his books into the locker, and slammed the door with more force than seemed necessary.

"Don't worry about it," said Ruby as he shut his own locker door. "We'll explain later, when we're all together at Green's." They were going to get together at Green's house that night, as was their habit. The New Bark set always had a weekend party at one of the boys' houses each Friday night, and it rotated every week. The time spent there was rife with gossip and discussion regarding the pairings among the set, but Gold ignored most of it.

"I will worry about it, smart-mouth, and you can explain it all when we get there," snapped Gold in annoyance. Ruby's constant hints and comments could be very tiring, and he was getting to the stage where he would either hit Ruby or taunt him about his relationship with Sapphire if he didn't shut up.

"Stop it, Ruby," Sapphire rebuked. "He's obviously not aware of what's going on right now, and you're only making it worse." She looked at Gold apologetically as she started to walk away, and Ruby followed her. As they walked away, three tall boys in white t-shirts and black pants walked up to Gold and pushed him against the locker.

"That's my locker you're standing in front of, Crewer," snarled the leader, whom Gold recognized as Butch, the Rocket who'd jumped him yesterday. His nose was broken again, thanks to the rest of the New Bark set, and his green hair was mussed up to no end.

"You tell 'im, Butch," sneered the second. This Rocket had purple hair and a face like a hawk, and he looked at Gold with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah," grunted the third, who had a vacant stare and whose brown hair matched the second boy's in style. "Yeah, that's Butch's locker, Crewer."

"I got this, you guys," said Butch as he moved closer to Gold. "Why don't you move, Crewer? It'd make things so much easier."

"How's about I don't?" snapped Gold, and Butch grinned.

"Hmm...we've got ourselves a fighter, boys," Butch announced to the two boys behind him, and they cracked their knuckles menacingly. "Hey, James and Attila, why don't you move him out of my way for me?"

"Sure, Butch," grunted Attila, the brown-haired one, and they moved even closer to Gold. This set Gold off, and he took a swing at James, who fell down, his nose bleeding. "You little scumbag," Attila snarled as he slugged Gold across the face, and Gold fell too. Then Green and Red showed up, having broken off a conversation with Professor Oak, and proceeded to pull Attila off of Gold, while the professor yelled at them to break it up. When Attila got off of him, Gold flicked open his knife and waved it threateningly at the three Rockets, who recoiled in shock.

"That's _enough_!" shouted Professor Oak, who finally ran over and broke up the fight. "Gold, put that knife away this instant. Butch, James and Attila, go straight to the Headmaster Lance's office, now!" He turned to Gold and the other two, who were helping Gold to gather his things. "Gold that was a very foolish thing to do. That knife spells nothing but trouble, and you could have seriously injured someone."

"Sure, Professor," said Gold through clenched teeth, as he picked up his baseball cap and put it back on. He knew that he shouldn't have pulled out the knife, but it was the heat of the moment that prompted him to do so. Now that the Rockets knew he could defend himself, they would leave him alone. Or so he thought.

All ten members of the New Bark set were at Green's house that night, including Silver, who'd broken off plans to rob the Cherrygrove Mart to come. He'd gotten into a fight with Pearl hours earlier, and his face still bore a slash across his left cheek. His explanation for the fight was that Pearl had been harassing him about his alleged slashing of Pearl's bike tires, and Silver had punched him in the face. The resultant fracas resulted in the slash on Silver's face, and Pearl left with his nose broken yet again.

Red and Green sat at the table, arm-wrestling yet again, and Yellow and Blue watched, cheering their boys on. Yellow was looking happier than Blue, seeing as Red won constantly, but she did her best to hide it. She was small for seventeen, with short golden hair and a white shirt, and she smiled broadly as Red won another match.

Gold, for his part, sat on the couch, looking silently into the blaze in the fireplace. He was still trying to get Ruby to explain himself for his odd remarks that morning, but Ruby was too busy talking to Sapphire to notice. Crystal, noticing that Gold was by himself, went to sit with him.

"What's wrong, Gold," she asked with concern. "You're usually so loud and exuberant, but tonight you're really subdued. What's the matter?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just the fight this morning. I'm a bit worried about what those Rockets are going to do now that I threatened their big leader."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "I thought it was something else, seeing as you keep looking at Ruby like that," she pointed out as Gold looked with annoyance at Ruby. "What's he done this time?"

"Nothing," he said quietly. "He keeps hinting at something, but he never says what it is. I don't get him sometimes. He never shuts up normally, so this is ridiculous." Just as he finished the sentence, Blue walked over, her usually bushy hair straight tonight.

"I'm getting tired of Red, he's just showing off for Yellow now," she said exasperatedly as she slumped into an armchair and turned to look back at the two boys at the table, followed by a thud as Red's hand hit the table. "I don't know _what_ she sees in him, but it's her choice, I guess."

"Maybe," said Crystal absently, also looking at them. Gold noticed that she'd straightened her short black hair too. "Then again, Red always acts like that, so don't get too upset."

"Yeah, he's just happy that he can beat Green at something." added Gold. It was true. Green and Red had had a running rivalry since they were small children, and Green won almost everything...except arm-wrestling, which Red somehow was naturally talented at. "Don't let it get to you, Blue."

"I guess so," Blue said with an annoyed look at Red. Yellow walked over to the group, and smiled at Blue sadly.

"I keep trying to get him to shut up, but he just won't," she said apologetically. "He's such a joker, so I don't know whether he's taking it seriously or just trying to annoy Green. You know Green has almost no sense of humor."

"About as much as Silver," agreed a small voice behind them, and they noticed that Emerald had joined them, along with Silver himself. Silver responded by blowing cigarette smoke at Emerald, and Blue cringed. She hated it when Silver smoked near Emerald and the younger boys, but as Emerald's hero, Silver did not expect any resistance from the youngest member of the New Bark Crew. In fact, he would be shocked beyond belief if Emerald stood up to him.

"Shut it, kid," growled Silver, but he grinned afterward. Emerald was the smallest and youngest member of the gang, so Silver and the other boys took it upon themselves to watch out for him and make sure he stayed out of trouble. As Gold said once, "We've got to look out for each other, and Emerald more so than the others."

Ruby walked over to the group gathering by the fireplace, and he sat down in another armchair. He motioned for Red and Green to come over, and they did so, Red putting away his black-handled folding knife, really a box cutter with a knife blade, and Green shutting off the lights.

"So now comes the most important part of the evening." said Ruby with a grin. "We're going to discuss not only the Prime Cup lineups, but also how we line up as a gang. Brace yourselves. It's going to be interesting." He threw a pinch of EnergyPowder into the fire, and the blaze flashed upwards toward the top of the chimney, illuminating the gang with a fierce yellow glow.

**So that's that for Part 2 of the Meet the Crew series of chapters. Please read/review, and tell me what you think of the story so far.**

**And yes, Emerald's character corresponds loosely to Johnny Cade in "The Outsiders".**


	4. Prep for a Fight

**This is Chapter 4 of 'Gold & Co. vs the World". Please continue to read and review; your reviews help me write a better story.**

**Just a quick note of clarification: this is not a direct retelling of "The Outsiders"; this is what Pokemon might be like if it were the novel.**

When the flash of fire subsided, Ruby turned the lights back on. He looked around the room, and his perma-grin vanished.

"It helps to act a little excited, guys," he said, a little disappointed. "This is where we get to know each other that much better."

"Ruby, you've known us since we were kids," objected Red. "I think you're using this as an excuse to say something stupid."

"You would know," Ruby said, "but that's besides the point. What I mean is that we're finally going to reveal some _interesting_ facts about ourselves, and it's going to be fun. Silver, you go first."

Silver shot Ruby a look of pure venom, and began. "This isn't exactly _fun_, but I've been carrying a blaster around town to scare off any Rockets that try to harass me." 'Blaster' was Crew slang for a firearm.

"Silver, you kill people with blasters!" cried Emerald as Silver showed the pistol to the group.

"It's not loaded, kid, so calm down. Anyway, I've managed to convince Pearl to come over to New Bark for the fight. He's ready, willing and able to stomp some Rockets flat." All the boys nodded grimly, but Yellow, who was seated next to Emerald, gasped.

"You guys aren't..."

"Yeah, sorry we didn't tell you," Red told her with a sheepish grin. "We're gonna have it out with the Rockets next week, and Pearl's bringing his nine best fighters with him." He looked around the group for affirmation, and Gold nodded again, this time towards Yellow.

"We're going to fight it out on Route 29, so there'll be plenty of space to fight and to provide cover for a quick escape if the Cherrygrove Police show up. Those Rockets should think twice about jumping us again after we stomp them good."

"Oh," said Yellow quietly, and shrank back in her seat.

"So, anyway, yeah, I've been carrying an unloaded blaster around, so they won't mess with me. Now here's Gold with the weather," Silver concluded with a smirk, and Gold glared at him.

"Not the weather, Silver," he growled. "but news on another front. I've been noticing that the Rockets have been gravitating towards Butch recently, and their unprovoked attacks on Crew members are disturbingly on the rise. It seems that he's the big leader of the Rockets, so he'll be the one we need to deal with first."

"Yeah, but we knew that," commented Ruby from the couch. "Get to the point!"

"The point," Gold continued, shooting Ruby a scorching look, "is that we've got a problem. Butch has connections, so he'll call on people from all over Johto to fight us, and we don't have that luxury. We'll be outnumbered, so we need to do something to get more Crew fighters over here." He looked around at the rest of the group, who didn't say a word. "That's all I've got to say on that subject."

"Uh, guys, look at the time," said Emerald from next to Yellow, and everyone looked at the clock. It read 11:47, and they needed to start home to get ready for the school's Prime Cup briefing the next day, so they all jumped up, said their goodbyes, and began to head out. Gold stopped and looked at Ruby, a grin spreading across the latter's face.

"Come on, buddy, now's your chance. Tell Crystal..."

"Tell me what?" Crystal said from next to them. She'd been about to walk out, but Ruby's words seemed to intrigue her.

"Uh..." Gold looked around nervously, "I-I..."

"I'll leave you to it," said Ruby with a nod to Gold, and ran out to catch Sapphire. Gold glared as Ruby ran out of sight, and began to walk out of the house.

"Wait for me!" called Emerald as he ran to the door, pulling on his green jacket. Emerald always walked home with one of the Crew, to avoid any more jumpings. Since Gold was the last one there, he would make sure Emerald got home safely. Crystal followed the two out of the house, where they were met by Red and Yellow.

"Hey, you guys," Red grinned at them. "Mind if we head home with you? It's dark, and I can't aim very well with the fog." Red's main defense on most nights was his knife, but he preferred to throw it at his enemies, and then had his Magneton retrieve it for him. Tonight, it would be tough to hit, so they agreed, and they all started down the street towards the Pokemon Lab.

"So, Gold, what was Ruby trying to get you to say?" Crystal asked in a mock-curious tone as they approached the Lab. Gold flushed furiously, and turned away, but he noticed Red and Emerald looking at him.

"Nothing, so don't even mention it anymore, OK? He's just being a complete idiot, as he often is!" Gold's angered tone unnerved even him. He had never burst out like this, so the others just stared.

"Sheesh," Red whispered. "And I thought Silver had a bad temper."

"Well, I have one too, if you haven't noticed!" snarled Gold, and as he spoke, a black car rolled up behind him, and out climbed two Rockets. The group looked and jumped, the girls moving back while Red and Gold fingered their knives. The Rockets staggered up to them—obviously drunk on some obscure liquor—and one of them spoke.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the two little Crew girls from the Lab," he slurred. "You're pretty brave to be walking the streets at night. Why don't you two ladies come with us instead of with these bums?"

"Who're you calling bums, pal?" snapped Red, drawing his knife, as the two Rockets took a step closer.

"Listen, Crewer, we got three more of us waiting. They're in the back seat," Red opened his box cutter knife's blade and held it up to the Rocket's neck.

"Well, too bad for them," he snarled, as Gold flicked out his blade as well. Emerald shrank back, noticing that one of the Rockets had a huge ring on his left hand. "You know better than to come onto the north side, _friend_, so get back in that car, then make like an Abra and Teleport back to your precious little south side!"

The Rockets glared at the five of them, and the bigger Rocket spotted Emerald and smiled. "Look at this frightened guy here. Say, aren't you the little Crewer we beat up on a few months ago?"

"M-maybe," Emerald said nervously, his hand moving to his back pocket.

"Y'know, I think he _is_ the little guy we left crying in the street. He was whimpering a helluva lot, weren't he?"

"Yeah," grunted the other. "E's just a little guy, too easy to beat up. We'll take care of him at the big punch-up next week, we will."

"So why don't you clowns go get ready for that instead of harassing us?" Gold snapped. His patience with the Rockets was worn very thin, and he was ready to fight right then and there.

"You know what, we'll do that," growled the smaller Rocket. "And you just watch yourself, little guy," he sneered at Emerald. "That fear of yours is going to hurt you when you fight, so toughen yourself up before we beat you senseless, will you?"

"Don't you dare...!" Crystal began to shout, but the Rockets jumped into their car and roared away before she could finish. "The nerve of them!" she finally shouted, as the four ran to where Emerald was standing, his face white as a sheet.

"That big guy was the one that beat me up," he said quietly. "He gave me those scars, and he's gonna beat me up at the fight. Maybe I shouldn't go."

"Oh, come on, kid, we need you," Gold said, half-growling as he watched the taillights vanish. "You're part of the reason we are fighting, 'cause you're important to us. We're not going to let those Rockets beat you up anymore. We're gonna make that guy pay for what he did to your face. We'll make 'em all pay for coming onto our side of town. We're gonna win that fight, even if we do have to break a few heads."

"Easier said than done, I think." said Emerald with a half-smile. "Come on, let's get home. I'm scared to death."

"Good deal," Red looked at Yellow. "I'm going to walk Yellow home, then I'll get home myself."

"Speaking of which," Gold added, "Crystal, d'you want us to walk you home? We don't want any revenge planned against you or Yellow, so why don't you come with us?"

"Sure," said Crystal, and they moved swiftly to make it happen.

**So that's that for Chapter 4. Keep reading and reviewing, I'll update as soon as I get another idea for a chapter focus.**


	5. Fire!

**Here's Chapter 5. Sorry I couldn't work the Darry/Ponyboy argument or Bob Sheldon's murder into the story, but I couldn't think of how to make it fit properly.**

Silver, Gold and Emerald were walking home the next day when they noticed shouts coming from the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove. As they came closer, they saw smoke rising from the red roof of the building, and a crowd of people gathered around it.

"Oh, glory," gasped Silver, dropping his cigarette. The Pokemon Center was on fire! The three of them moved closer, and saw a group from Earl's Pokemon Trainer School in Violet City standing outside the sliding doors, with a young woman frantically shouting at Earl.

"I'm telling you, Earl, some of the children are missing! I thought they were right behind us!"

"They're probably still with the group, Roxanne. Don't worry." the man called Earl tried to reassure her, but screams coming from inside the Center caused him to rethink that statement. "I thought you were watching them!"

"I was, but they must have slipped away to visit the Pokemon. How are we ever going to get them out?"

As if to answer their question, Gold and Emerald sprinted past them towards the glass sliding doors. The two teachers moved to stop them, but they kicked down the door and ran inside. Silver angrily released Brute, his Feraligatr, to try and douse the flames, and he ran to a window to try and help. Emerald called to Gold, and they charged through the smoke-filled hallways.

"Can you tell where those kids are?" shouted Gold through the haze.

"Follow the screams!" answered Emerald, coughing loudly. "They should be here somewhere..." He suddenly stopped. "The Pokemon! That woman said they went to visit the Pokemon! Let's get to the treatment room!" The two boys ran into the aforementioned room, and found six children huddled together in the corner, surrounded by flames, crying and screaming for help.

"We need to get them out of here!" Gold shouted at Emerald, who opened a window so that they could pass them out to Silver, who had circled around to the room.

"You two are insane!" Silver yelled at the two of them, and he reached out to collect the children and get them out of the building.

"So? We need to get these kids out!" retorted Gold, as he passed one of the children out. He looked toward Emerald, and realized in horror that Emerald was standing right underneath one of the arms used to move Poke Balls in and out of the room. The arm was weakening from the heat, and might fall any second. As he passed the last one of the children out of the window, he heard Emerald scream, and too late saw the arm fall on him. He shouted Emerald's name frantically, but next thing he knew, he was being hauled out of the window by Silver, who shouted something about being on fire before he jumped through the window to rescue Emerald. Gold saw that the building was collapsing, and saw the roof cave in before he blacked out...

When Gold woke up, he saw figures standing over him, worriedly conversing among themselves. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that the rest of the Crew were there, looking at him with concern. He pushed himself up, and the group shouted in relief.

"GOLD!" yelled Ruby, his cap askew, his face white as a sheet. "You're alright!"

"Of course he is," said Green quietly, but he too looked frightened. "By the wings of Ho-Oh, you scared us to death, Gold. Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Gold said thickly, looking around. "Am I...?"

"Yes, you're in the hospital." Crystal said with what seemed to be a choked sob. "You three were really brave out there, getting those kids out. We thought..."she choked back another sob as she threw her arms around him, causing Gold to cry out in shock.

"You thought what? That I was more hurt than this? Nah..." he said with his joker's grin back on his face. "I just passed out after I fell out the window, because Silver..." Suddenly he gasped. "Silver and Emerald! Are they...? Did you hear...?"

"Don't worry about them." said another voice, and Professor Elm walked in. "Silver looks fine, and should be out in about two days, but Emerald...he doesn't look so good. He was severely burned in the fire, and his back is in bad shape. I wouldn't hold out much hope for his recovery." This statement caused all the members of the gang in the room to recoil in shock. Gold hung his head, because he felt that leading Emerald into that burning Pokemon Center had led to this.

"What's wrong, Gold?" Red asked, then realized. "Don't beat yourself up, kid, if you two hadn't gone in there those kids would have died. It's more important that they got out, but it's still pretty bad that he's hurt."

"Absolutely." said Professor Elm. "Gold, you're free to go, but I want Silver to hang around for a couple of days. He sprained his wrist when he fell out the window, and he needs to have it examined."

"Sure. I'll grab my stuff and we can go." said Gold. He collected his possessions, and the Crewers walked out of the room in a silent huddle.

Gold sat at home with the rest of the Crew, quietly contemplating the events of the past few days. The usual enthusiasm that would normally accompany an upcoming fight was gone, lost in silent worry over Emerald's condition. Silver had been told to avoid using his right hand for a week, but everyone knew he would ignore this, so they weren't worried about him. What they were worried about were the dire predictions everyone was attaching to Emerald, how he wasn't expected to live much longer.

They had finally pressured the doctors into letting them visit Emerald, and they had left Blue and Yellow to talk to him. Crystal and Sapphire sat talking in hushed tones, while Green and Red half-heartedly began to arm-wrestle across the table. Crystal walked over to Gold, and it was clear from her expression that she wanted to talk about something important. Gold stood up, and they both walked outside into the late evening sunlight.

"He'll be alright," Gold interjected abruptly, as Crystal opened her mouth to speak. "Emerald, I mean. He has to be," He looked at the suddenly taken aback Crystal, and stopped his rushed statement. "Oh, sorry, Crystal, I got carried away..."

"Don't worry about it," she said, and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "It's just that, I'm worried for him too. He might not make it, and..." she tried to choke back a sob, but couldn't, and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. Gold touched her hand, and she looked up.

"He'll be alright," he said reassuringly. He looked around to see if anyone was listening, and then he said quietly, "I never got to tell you something a few nights ago, when we had the run-in with the Rockets. Something important."

"What is it, Gold?" she answered just as quietly, as she looked at him in confusion.

"Something that Ruby hinted at, but I never actually stated. I really like you, Crystal. More than anything."

"Guess what, Gold?" said Crystal, smiling. "Same goes for me." She threw her arms around him, and he pulled her into a lingering, passionate kiss. When they broke apart, they looked down the road, and saw that the sun was setting, and both agreed that the timing was perfect.

**And so ends Chapter 5. It may seem a bit choppy, but nobody's perfect, I suppose. Watch out for the upcoming Chapter 6, and prepare for the fight to end all fights (some surprises will be involved). As always, read/review to help me write a better story.**


	6. A Trip to the Doctor's

**Here's Chapter 6.**

The next morning, Gold woke up to find Pearl, the other Crew leader from the north side, sitting on the couch reading the front page of the Cherrygrove Post, the local newspaper. Gold started into the living room, and flicked on the light.

"Hi, Pearl." he said quietly.

"Hey, kid," Pearl said back, turning a page of the paper.

"Can I get you some breakfast or something?"

"Nope." Pearl got up. "Well, thanks for letting me use your couch."

"Sure," Gold said. "Anytime. See you at the fight later." Pearl said nothing, put the newspaper down on the table, and left. Gold walked into the kitchen, when he heard voices outside the door.

"Anybody home?" Red shouted from the doorway.

"Yeah, in here! Don't slam the door!" Gold called to him. The next thing he knew, Red and Sapphire had jumped on him, shouting happily.

"Hey, look, it's the New Bark hero!" yelled Sapphire, brandishing another copy of the Cherrygrove Post. "I wouldn't have believed it if it didn't say it there in the paper. Hey, tell me, Gold, how's it feel to be a hero?"

"A what?" Gold was shocked. A hero? Not to anyone he knew.

"A hero, man, you know, like a kind of celebrity," Sapphire told him matter-of-factly, then looked at Red, who was rummaging in the fridge for a can of beer. "Beer for breakfast there, Red?"

"Always," Red told her before downing a huge gulp of his drink. "Settles my nerves. Look, there's Silver and Emerald's pictures too. Aw, they didn't mention Silver's police record, that'll make him mad."

"That's true," Sapphire responded. "Hey, where's that dope Ruby? He said he'd meet me here."

"Who's a dope?" asked Ruby from the door, where he'd just arrived. "Actually, don't answer that. Sapphire, we've got to get to the Mart. They're expecting us to be there in five minutes."

"WHAT?" Sapphire yelled, and she jumped up, waving goodbye to everyone as she followed Ruby out the door.

"What's their deal?" asked Red to no-one in particular, as Green appeared at the door with Blue.

"How you doing?" Green asked Gold as they walked in. "We thought we'd come by to see you before I head off to work. You'll be alright by yourself, won't you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, Green, I'll be fine. I'm just worried about Emerald. I'll go over to see him and Silver later on today. Red, you doing anything remotely interesting?"

"Nope," Red told him, gulping down the last of his beer and throwing the empty can at Green. "I'll go over with you. It ain't safe for us to be walking alone, particularly with the fight later."

"True," said Green, who threw the can back at Red. "Say hi to them for me, will you?"

"Sure," said Gold, and Green and Blue left.

The walk towards Goldenrod was without incident until they reached the Ilex Forest guardhouse. The all-too-familiar black car was rolling down the road, and heading straight for them. Gold started to move away, but Red stopped him.

"Let's see what they want first," he said quietly. The car pulled up, and who should climb out but James, Butch's right-hand man. "Hey, no fightin' before the rumble. You know the rules, Slaking-face."

"We know," growled James quietly. He looked at Gold. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," said Gold hesitantly, and he looked at Red for approval. Red nodded, and they walked toward the car. After a few awkward moments, James spoke.

"I saw your photo in the paper. It never occurred to me that a Crewer could do that sort of thing."

"The three of us being Crewers had nothing to do with it," snarled Gold, his temper rising. "They would have died if we hadn't gone in there."

"I wouldn't have. I would've let those kids burn to death."

"Maybe you would have. You never know."

"I'm not going to the fight tonight. The other Rockets don't know that, so don't tell them. I'm sick of fighting. This won't change anything. The Crew will still be Crew, and the Rockets will still be the Rockets. All I'm saying is that the conflict is useless. If we could just find a common ground, we could end all the fighting."

"That's true. I'm still going to fight, but I agree with you. It won't change anything, but this isn't about changing anything. It's a pride issue. Butch's pride was wounded when I threatened him, and he thought he'd repair it by fighting us. We're going to show him that we're just as good as him."

"Suit yourself," said James, and he signaled to the other four Rockets to get in the car. "I'll see you around,"

"Sure," Gold replied, and walked back to Red, who was talking to one of the guards.

"So what'd Mr. Right-Hand Rocket have to say?" asked Red seriously.

"He ain't a Rocket. He's just a guy who wanted to talk, is all." Red gave Gold a strange look, and they kept walking towards Goldenrod.

The hospital was like any other to Gold: too clean, too quiet. But outside Emerald's room, the quiet was gone, replaced by an argument between Red and one of the nurses. She wouldn't let the two boys in, and Red wasn't leaving until he'd seen Emerald. Finally, Professor Elm intervened.

"Nurse Joy, it's alright," he said to the young-looking nurse with whom Red had been arguing. "You can go in, boys. He's been asking for you. It can't hurt, now." His expression was uncharacteristically grim. The boys nodded, and walked into the room, where Emerald lay on his stomach, quietly resting.

"Hey Emerald," said Gold as they walked in. He showed the newspaper to the smaller boy. "They've put your picture in the paper, for being a hero."

"Nice," said Emerald weakly, as he looked at the picture. "How's Silver?"

"We're going to see him afterward," Red told him. "You alright, kid?"

"I'll never walk again," said Emerald. "Not even on crutches or mechanical limbs. That arm wrecked my back. I wish I could, but I guess that's just the way things are."

"Don't talk like that," scolded Red. "We couldn't get along without you, so kick that notion out of your mind. They'll find some way to help you out, kid, just you wait. We can't afford to lose you."

"It's true, though," said Emerald quietly. "Even if I do live, I'll never be able to do much anymore. I'll be stuck with my parents," he said bitterly. "I don't suppose they care, though. They never did." Right as he spoke those words, another nurse walked in.

"Emerald, your mother's here to see you," she said softly. Emerald's face turned hard.

"I don't want to see her. She's probably here to tell me how I'm causing her a whole lot of trouble. Just tell her to leave me alone!"

"But she's your mother..." began the nurse, but Emerald shouted again.

"Tell her to go home! She never cared before, why should she now? Tell her to get out of here and leave me alone!"

"Alright," said the nurse in a defeated tone. "Boys, you should let him rest."

"Fine," said Gold. He fumbled in his pocket for the Poke Ball he'd brought along. "It's Emerald's Furret. Make sure he gets this, alright?"

"Alright," said the nurse, and she placed the ball on the table next to Emerald, who had fainted. As the boys walked out, they saw Emerald's mother standing outside the room, evidently drunk and in a heated argument with a nurse.

"But I've got a right to see him, he's my son!" she was yelling. As she spotted the two boys, she burst out, "He'd rather see those no-good punks than his own mother! Are you happy, scum?" she sneered at Gold. "Leading him into burning buildings, getting jailed and Arceus knows what else!" Red's face turned hard at these words. Gold was startled to see that he had tears in his eyes.

"No wonder he hates you," Red cried. "You don't even care about him, you damned drunk!" Gold pulled Red away before he could really let her have it, and they walked away toward Silver's room. "Man, he has to live with that? I really pity him now."

Silver's room was bare except for the bed and a small chest of drawers beside it. Silver was currently lying down, wide awake, staring at the ceiling. When he saw Red and Gold, he sat up, and Gold noticed that he had a bandage around his right wrist.

"How you doing?" asked Red as they walked in.

"Hey, how you doing, man?" Silver said as he pulled himself up. "Man, it's good to see you guys. This place scares me. I want out!" he finished with a very rude hand gesture to a passing doctor. "Pearl dropped by to rub it in about the fight. I really hate missing it."

"We wish you could be there too, but the doctors said..."

"Ah, who cares?" Silver said with another gesture. "I'll find some way out," He paused, and his face turned serious. "How's Emerald doing? Is he alright?"

"Look, Silver," said Red in a concerned tone. "I don't know much about this sort of thing, but he didn't look so good. He passed out before we left him." Silver's face, framed by his sweeping red hair, turned hard.

"Right," he said as he fell backward into the bed, burying his face in the pillow. He suddenly jerked upright, and looked at Red. "Red, you still got that fancy boxcutter on you?"

"Yeah,"

"Give it here." Red flicked the blade open, and handed the knife to Silver, who grasped it and held it, point down. "You know, we've got to win that fight tonight. We've gotta get even with those Rockets!" he yelled as he stabbed the knife into the bed. He turned to his two friends. "Let's do it for Emerald, man. We'll do it for Emerald!" He shuddered and fell back onto the bed, examining the knife as Red and Gold walked out.

**That's it for Chapter 6. Next chapter will be the fight, I mean it this time. Watch out for a few surprises, and keep on reading and reviewing.**


	7. Rumble by the Roadside

**This is Chapter 7. Read on for a few surprises.**

Later that evening, Gold sat in the living room of Green's house, thinking about the fight. All of the members of their set had gathered there, and were busy whipping themselves up into a frenzy. Gold had talked to them before about why they fought, and he had come to four conclusions: Ruby fought because he found it exciting, Sapphire because she hated Rockets, Green to test himself, and Red to be like everyone else. Gold had left his cut-off sweatshirt at home, wearing his dark green three-quarter-sleeve shirt and his usual shorts. He felt odd without the sweatshirt, but it would hinder his ability to hit people.

The four boys had had a tag battle before the fight, so they were pumped up. Green was as impassive as ever, but even he admitted to being excited about the upcoming fight. He was wearing a tight black shirt and jeans, with a black wristband on his left wrist. It was Green who had suggested they meet at his house (a prospect which Professor Oak didn't like, but put up with). He was now in a heated argument with Sapphire, who was planning on fighting with the boys.

"I don't like the idea, Sapphire," Green was saying in a quiet tone. "Your parents will kill me if you get hurt, and I can't stand the thought. This isn't like you fighting a lone Rocket in the hallway. This is a full-scale fight, and I don't think you should be in it."

"Come on, Green," Sapphire told him. "I'll grab a little one and pound him into the dirt. What's the difference?"

"Yeah, Green, let her fight," said Ruby from the corner. "Everyone should get a chance to fight. Skin against skin, she won't get hurt,"

"Well, we will need every man—or woman—we can get, but I don't know." Green looked concerned.

"Look, Green," said Gold, speaking up for the first time in a while, "If it were blades or anything else it'd be different. She's tough, she'll be OK."

"Alright," said Green in a defeated tone. "But you be careful, OK?"

"Sure, I will." said Sapphire. "How come you don't worry about _him_ so much," she added, looking at Ruby. "He's the one needs watching out for."

"Hey, that's one kid I don't have to worry about." Green said, an uncharacteristic grin spreading across his face. "He can use his head for one thing, and that's to grow hair on!" He wrapped his arm around Ruby's neck, ruffled his hair, and sprinted out the door. The rest of the fighters ran out, whooping and hollering, while the three other girls yelled to be safe.

As they approached the site, Green turned to Ruby and Sapphire. "Listen to me, both of you. If the cops show up, you two beat it. It's bad enough we'll get jailed, but you two'll get in even bigger trouble, know what I'm saying?"

"Sure," said Sapphire. "But they won't dare call the cops, 'cause they know better!"

"All the same, you two beat it out of there, you hear me?" When Ruby nodded, Green settled down, and they walked toward the grassy patch where the fight was to take place. They arrived to find that Pearl and his gang were already there. Pearl had a black jacket over his orange and white striped rugby shirt, and he stared out at the field as they walked up.

"How you doing, Pearl?" said Green, holding out his hand.

"Pretty good," Pearl responded, shaking it. He turned to Gold. "You're the one who threatened the Rocket that started all this, right?"

"Yeah," Gold answered apprehensively.

"Good going, kid. Diamond always said you were a good kid." When Gold stared at him, he added, "My parents sent Diamond and Platina to boarding school for the next six months. Diamond got caught breaking into a drugstore, the little..." He launched into a stream of expletives that he seemed to consider terms of endearment. The glow of headlights interrupted his tirade, and he threw his jacket aside as five cars pulled up.

Twenty-three Rockets climbed out of the five different cars, all dressed in their usual white button-down shirts and khakis. Gold noticed that Butch was there, and so was Eusine, Crystal's ex-boyfriend, but James was missing. The gang turned to face the Rockets, and he saw Green standing at the head of the group. The Rockets spread out to form a wide line, and one of the Rockets stepped up. This particular Rocket had a navy jacket and black sweatpants on, and his brown hair fell into his eyes.

"Hello, Green. Long time, no see." the Rocket said.

"Hello, Paul." Gold saw Ruby staring, and he realized that it was Paul from Sinnoh. He had been the most aggressive battler on Violet's Poke Cup team before being kicked out. Obviously, his fortunes had changed, and he was back in Johto to fight his old friend.

"I'll take you," said Paul simply, and Green smiled coldly. Just then, a shout echoed from the distance.

"Hey, wait up!" Gold looked to see who it was, turned back, and a fist hit his face hard. The fight was on! Gold jumped back up and slammed his fist into the Rocket's stomach, causing him to fall in pain, but the Rocket kept fighting, throwing punches left and right. Nearby, Sapphire had jumped on Eusine, and was tearing at the older boy's cape, trying to get to the arrogant honor student. Green was trading punches with Paul, knocking him down several times. Gold looked over and saw Silver kicking one of the Rockets as he lay on the ground. He ran over to Silver, who nodded as he punched another Rocket across the face.

"I thought you were in the hospital!" yelled Gold, grappling with a large Rocket.

"I was!" called Silver, throwing yet another Rocket over his shoulder. "I'm not anymore!"

"How come?"

"Talked the nurse into it, with Red's boxcutter! Don't you know a fight ain't a fight unless I'm in it?" Gold digested this quickly, as Red passed by, fighting off Attila, one of Butch's 'lieutenants'. Pearl had wrestled one of the Rockets to the ground, and was lying on top of the larger boy, hitting him as hard as he could. Sapphire had successfully gotten to Eusine, and had knocked him down with three swings, and he started to crawl away as the Rockets called for a retreat.

"They're running!" yelled Red, as Green threw Paul to the ground. Paul began to run, too, and Red yelled again, "Look at the dirty Rockets run!" It was true. The Crewers let out derisive howls as the Rockets fled the scene, battered and bruised, to leave their rivals victorious. Green ran over to Sapphire, and was checking to see if she was alright. She grinned at him, raised her arms in triumph, and celebrated with the rest of the Crewers, screaming victoriously as the last Rockets jumped into their cars and raced away. Silver grabbed Gold and dragged him away.

"Come on," he ordered. "We're going to see Emerald." Gold was too beaten up to argue, and the two of them ran to Silver's car. They roared down the road, avoiding pedestrians like traffic cones, and reached Goldenrod in record time. Gold climbed out first while Silver parked the car, and the two boys ran into the hospital to Emerald's room. Emerald lay face-up, eyes closed, his burns more pronounced in the dim light.

"Hey Emerald," said Silver encouragingly. "We beat the Rockets. Stomped 'em. Chased 'em out of out neighborhood."

"No...use." whispered Emerald. "Fighting's useless. I've thought about it a lot, and it's true. Fighting won't solve anything."

"Hey, don't talk like that, kid." Silver growled. His face softened. "You know, they're writing great stories about you in the papers, about being a hero. We're all proud of you, kid."

"Gold," Emerald said weakly. Gold leaned in closer, and Emerald spoke again. "Keep the team together, Gold, 'cause I'm not able to anymore...." With that, Emerald stopped talking, and moved no more.

"Come on, Emerald," said Silver, and then he jumped up. "Come on, don't die on me now, kid. Come on, Emerald, don't die. Please don't die!" Silver suddenly sprinted out of the room, and his face was wild. Gold got up, told the doctors what had happened, and left the hospital. Not wanting to walk home, he summoned Majestic, his Pidgeot, and flew back to New Bark. When they arrived, Gold dropped to the ground and burst into his first real tears in a while.

**That's that for Chapter 7. I know the surprises during the fight may have been expected, but I think I might have made the end of the chapter a bit depressing. All in all, I hope you like it. Read/Review as always.**


	8. So Long, Silver

**This is Chapter 8 of "Gold & Co. vs the World".**

Gold walked into Green's house to a very subdued scene. Sapphire lay on the couch, groaning in such a way that she sounded like she was dying. Her side was bandaged, and her face bore a gash three inches long. It turned out she had broken two ribs. Red's hand was bleeding profusely, and his face also bore a cut. Green had gotten off easiest, it seemed, because all he was doing was dabbing at a small bite mark on his hand. Ruby had a black eye and his jacket was ripped again, but he seemed to be alright. Blue and Crystal were helping the worst-injured members of the gang, handing out bandages and dabbing at Sapphire's cut with a damp rag. They all turned to the door to see who was there, and Green spoke.

"So where you been?" he asked with a scowl. Then he noticed Gold's expression and his face softened. "Gold, what's wrong?"

"Emerald's dead." Gold said in a husky voice, and everyone looked down. "Told him about beating the Rockets. I dunno, he just up and died." He had said to keep the group together, too, but that could be voiced later. Then he remembered Silver racing out of the room in blind panic. "Silver's gone. He couldn't take it, he's gonna blow up." The group fell silent, and finally Red voiced everyone's feeling.

"So he finally broke," Red muttered to no one in particular. "So even Silver has a breaking point." The glum mood continued for several minutes, then the phone rang. Green ran to it, and said "Hello," then listened for a minute or so before putting it down with somewhat unnecessary force.

"Gold, get Majestic out." Green ordered. He then addressed the whole gang. "That was Silver. He's just robbed the Ecruteak Poke Mart and the cops are after him. We've gotta hide him. He'll be at the National Park in a minute." At these words, the whole gang, even Sapphire, jumped up and ran for the door, but no whoops or cheers accompanied them. They all released their flyers and raced for the park.

When they arrived, they saw five policemen chasing Silver across the grass. Silver skidded to a halt in the center of the park, and pulled out his unloaded gun.

"You'll never get me alive!" Silver yelled at the policemen. The police didn't know it wasn't loaded and that Silver was not a threat. But at a cry of "Drop him!" by their captain, they opened fire anyway amid the gang's panicked yells.

"Stop!" "It's not loaded!" "Don't shoot!" "He's just a kid!" "NOOOOOOO!"

Five shots rang out, jerking Silver sideways with each shot. After the fifth shot hit him, he crawled toward the group with a look of bitter triumph on his hard face, before finally rolling onto his back, dead. His sweeping red hair fell into his face, covering his eyes.

"The idiots..." Gold heard Green murmur, then jumped when he heard Green explode at the cops. "STUPID IDIOTS!" Green roared. "YOU STUPID FREAKS! He's only seventeen, and you just _had_ to kill him!"

"Son, he was aiming a weapon at us." The policeman was trying to reason with Green, but Green wouldn't back down when he was in this kind of a temper. "We had to shoot him. I'm sorry if he was your friend, but he was threatening us and we fired in defense."

"Don't you get it?" snarled Red. He picked up the gun and dropped out the empty magazine. "The gun wasn't even loaded, so he wasn't a threat. So what if he aimed it at you. He was trying to intimidate you and it worked, you frightened bastards!"

"Get on home, kids," said the policeman quietly. "There's nothing more you can do here." With that, he ordered his men to search Silver, and one found Red's knife. Red grabbed it from him and flicked the blade open. The policemen raised their guns to him, and Gold pulled him back. "Come on, man, there's no sense in you getting killed, too. Two of us is enough."

"That's right," said the policeman who found the knife. "Go home and get some rest, or we'll arrest you for disturbing the peace." With that, he continued to search Silver, while the gang jumped on their flyers and headed home.

"Two in one night. How much worse can things get right now?" Gold was saying as he and Crystal flew home on Majestic. "Emerald was our buddy, and Silver needed us as well. Now what?"

"Now we just wait things out." Crystal said in a calming tone. "The police will want to talk to us about Silver, and we need clear heads for that. Just keep it calm, and we'll be okay." She looked down, and sighed. "It's too bad Silver had to go like that. He was a nice boy at times, but he..."

"He hated the world..." mused Gold, looking at the clouds roll by. "He wanted to die after Emerald did, 'cause Emerald was the only thing that was keeping him going. When Emerald died, he lost his reason to keep living." Gold suddenly hung his head, and the tears came again. Now he had lost two good friends. One night had claimed both of them. And Emerald had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time...it was too much for him to take. Crystal noticed this, moved over to Gold and pulled him into a tight hug, not letting go until they reached New Bark Town.

**So that's the end of Chapter 8. Next chapter will probably be the last, so look for it. As always, read/review to help me write a good conclusion.**


	9. The Aftermath

**Here's the ninth and final chapter of my Pokemon Outsiders. I know it's short, but don't judge it by its length. Read/Review as always!**

The next few days were awful for the whole gang. First off, the police questioned each of us about Silver, which wasn't easy for anyone. They wanted to know if he was a good friend of ours, and we all said that he was. Then they asked if his parents knew, and we had to drill it into them that we were just about the only family he had. Finally, they wanted to ask Red and Green about their outbursts after Silver was shot, and the two boys said that they were still hot under the collar about their friend being gunned down.

After that, the Rockets tried to jump Gold and Crystal while they were walking through the National Park. Luckily for the two, Gold still carried his knife, and he drove them back before any real damage could be done. Then he released Flare as some added protection, and the day went better.

At school, things weren't the same for anybody. Eusine tried to make an advance on Crystal by advertising his so-called "battle scar", given to him by Sapphire's vicious punches to the jaw, but Crystal threatened to give him another if he didn't leave, so he did. Gold never traveled alone anymore, but walked the halls with his buddies Ruby, Green, and Red. The girls traveled together too, but Sapphire drawled that she would protect all eight of them now, which was good for a few laughs.

Butch had stopped trying to beat up the Crewers, and the news soon came that he was leaving Johto to join the actual Team Rocket, and become an elite agent. Paul had gone back to Sinnoh after the fight, but Green would bear a scar from his old friend's punch to the face for the rest of his life. Attila and James lost their will to fight the Crew after Butch left, and they soon left to join the real Rockets with their old friend.

The Prime Cup was in three days, and the Crewers needed to scramble up the pairings on account of the deaths of Emerald and Silver. Gold moved up into Silver's slot as third single battler, and Blue took Gold's place alongside Crystal at first double battle. Yellow would continue Emerald's management work alone, which she seemed quite happy about.

The memory of Emerald and Silver still lingered in everyone's mind. The memory of a small, scared boy with wispy hair and a fearful, suspicious face. The memory of a vengeful, hot-tempered boy, with sweeping red hair and a grim smile. One night had claimed both of them, and it would not easily be forgotten. But the Crew stood strong, knowing that if they used their friends' memories as incentive, they could win the Cup, and show that winning isn't about what side of town you come from, but your ability as a person and a friend.

**That's the end of "Gold and Co. vs the World". Keep an eye out for the sequel, "Tales from the Prime Cup", coming soon to the Pokemon storyboards.**


End file.
